Mexican beers, summer go hand in hand

Monday

Although both mass-produced, American and Mexican lagers are similarly light and accessible. But they emerged from different brewing legacies.

Thanks to the power of marketing, millions of people associate beach weekends and barbecues with a handful of light Mexican lagers served with a wedge of lime.

Popular imports such as Corona, Sol, Pacifico and Dos Equis conjure up images of swaying palm trees, spicy fish tacos and, in the last case, incredible tales of a life well-lived.

Rare is the beer aficionado who would list these mass-produced brews among the greats. But these beers are not without their charms, particularly when presented in a michelada, offering a lightly sweet and effervescent base to a mix of tomato and lime juice, tamarind, chilies, pickled fruit and salsa Maggi, the Mexican answer to soy sauce.

But there are also some flavorful Mexican lagers out there worth drinking on their own merit.

Although mass-produced, American and Mexican lagers are similarly light and accessible. But they emerged from different brewing legacies.

While most American lagers can trace their origins to pale and mildly hoppy pilsners from the region of Bohemia near Prague, Mexican lagers are more closely related to the more malty and dark (or Dunkel) Vienna-style lagers popular in Bavaria.

While Mexico has an ancient tradition of alcohol fermentation, it did not become a beer-making nation until the late nineteenth century when waves of German immigrants settled especially in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands.

Alongside the polka, which left a mark on various Mexican musical traditions, breweries marked the most important cultural import of Germans in Mexico.

The typical Mexican lager of today, like its American counterpart, is a highly-attenuated product bearing little resemblance to its European ancestors. Still, there are enjoyable lagers available that reveal Mexico's Viennese brewing roots.

Negra Modelo is an obvious example because it is both tasty and widely available in the U.S. But most Americans are surprised to learn that Indio is a more established favorite in Mexico, usually because they've never heard of it.

That is a shame since Indio offers a cheap, drinkable and flavorful example of an everyday dark lager. Perhaps we might have similar pilsners in the U.S. had Prohibition not wiped out American brewing.

But perhaps the clearest example of a traditional Mexican Viennese lager is Bohemia Obscura, a beer which is flavorful, malty and rich while remaining highly drinkable in the hot summer sun of Mexico, or in your own backyard.

Jon Hill is a writer, historian and craft beer enthusiast from the village of Poland, New York.

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